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Thursday, December 29, 2016

Christmas Happenings 2016

I can't believe the holiday season is a few days from being totally over. We will probably keep our tree up for another week or so (and hope for some snowy evenings - we didn't get nearly enough of them with our twinkle lights), but I'm still sad to see the season slipping away from us.

We had SO much fun! It was a busy couple of months, and Luke was struggling with his GI issues through all of it - which can sometimes hinder our activities. I have to say no to a lot of outings and excursions to limit his exposure to illnesses when he's going through a flare up. His poor little body can't handle much. But despite it all, we made some really great memories together!

Mid-month, the boys' elf Snowflake Little Bear brought them their annual North Pole Breakfast. He made some necessary changes for our new gluten free needs, but it didn't change an ounce of enjoyment or excitement for the boys - they loved all of it.

Around the same time, I had a field day with cheap and easy Christmas decorating. All of the big stuff was already up, but I grabbed some cheap supplies while Jake and I were out running errands one day, and had a lot of fun making little adjustments and doing whatever came to me.

I'd had this blog post in my head for a while, and though I tend to do things in more of a floral, crafty, shabby chic way, I couldn't stop thinking about the cabinet wreaths. I'd looked for the little wreaths on Amazon and at craft stores, and didn't really want to spend the money while I was in the middle of Christmas shopping. So I ended up coming up with my own solution thanks to the dollar store.

I grabbed one of their evergreen garlands (which have wire in them) and a spool of ribbon. I then cut pieces off both of them, twisted each of the garland ends around each other to form a small wreath, and then hot glued a loop of the ribbon around them.

I ended up with 2 extra little wreaths and not enough ribbon to add them to cabinets, so I ended up hanging them next to the bathroom mirror with some red and white twine and plaid washi tape.

So I spent $2 and made 8 little wreaths. I love it!

I also spruced up my kitchen sink a little more...

I got the mini tree, string of lights for it, and the mini pallet art tree at the one spot in Target. The little glass tree and the tiny ornaments in it were both thrifted previously. The crocheted bells I hung in the corners are from a garage sale, also. And the pine & peppermint dish and hand soaps are from Grove.co (<-- if you use that link, you'll get $10 off an order!)

I also dressed up my little bird with some red and white twine, and snipped some branches off the evergreens in my backyard to stick in the little flower pot...

My sink was my little Christmas happy place. I loved how it turned out! It was so happy, in fact, someone pointed out that in the full picture of the sink, they could even see a smiley face. Love that :)

Here's another favorite spot in our house around Christmas. This is the best place to sit and read!

Something I do every year before Christmas (since we've lived in this house) is attend the craft show at the boys' school. It's huge - it actually takes up the hallways of both the elementary and the middle schools, and has some of the best truly homemade goodies from artisans around the area. Usually, my mom goes with me, but she didn't make it this year, so I took Jake. And he was kind of a hit. There are lots of older ladies manning the booths at this show, and they all had so much to say to him. ;) He also scored some free candy and little goodies at many of them!

I also let him cheat and have a donut since we were out of sight from his brothers. He was shocked and grateful, and it was so cute to sit with him for a little bit as he talked about the sprinkles and said "thank you, mommy!" every few bites. So cute.

Also, I found this little jam company based out of Lewiston, NY and their peppered cranberry jam is amazing! If you can ever find them at a show or little shop in their area, do!! They're also on Facebook - HERE

The boys got to play in the snow one night, and when they came in we had cocoa and watched The Grinch (the original cartoon one).

You saw our Christmas cookie day one post back (if you didn't, click here), and then a few days later, Jake and I went out to finish our Christmas shopping - mostly all of the food we'd need for all of our gatherings. While we were out, we spotted Santa at Wegmans!

It was enough for Jake just to spot Santa rolling past the apples in the store we visit every week, but later on in our shopping, we ran into them in the pet food aisle! They had a cart full of carrots for their reindeer, and were looking for some treats for them. We asked if we could take a picture and they agreed, before reminding Jake to put out some cookies this weekend!

Here's a few other random pictures from the last week of Christmas preparations before I go...

I'm working hard on getting our video for this year finished so I can put up our Christmas post in the next day or two! So stay tuned for that!! (You can check out the videos from 2015, 2014 and 2013 by clicking on those years.)